3/01 - CeBIT 2001 - EDEN PRAIRIE, MINN. (March 22, 2001)– Fargo Electronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRGO) is the world leader in plastic card personalization systems, employing innovative technologies to develop customized solutions for end users. We personalize plastic identification cards by printing images, text and bar codes, laminating, and electronically encoding the cards with information. We also sell consumable supplies, such as the ribbons, printheads, and blank cards used with our systems.
FARGO will be exhibiting its card personalization systems at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany, one of the world’s largest information technology shows from March 22 to 28, 2001. A CeBIT exhibitor since 1994, we will be located in Booth A17, in the Card Technology building (Hall 23). Over 800,000 visitors are expected to attend the show, which features more than 8,000 companies from over 60 countries.
At its booth, FARGO will be demonstrating its recently introduced DTC500 series of card personalization systems, which are rugged, reliable, and loaded with advanced features.
Our customers use FARGO systems to create personalized cards for a wide variety of applications:
* Corporate: Access control; time and attendance tracking; employee identification; parking passes.
* Education: Student and staff identification; stored value for bookstore and cafeteria; library cards; access control.
* Government: Drivers' licenses; military identification; social services identification and stored value; inmate and corrections staff identification.
* Healthcare: Access control; employee identification.
* Transportation: Bus and train passes; airport security.
* Hospitality: Access to events, hotel rooms, or exclusive privileges; stored value for gaming, restaurants and shops.
* Retail and Recreation: Customer loyalty and discount cards; park passes; ski lift passes.
Since our inception in 1974, FARGO has built a reputation for technological leadership with its engineering expertise and knowledge of printing and data encoding technologies. FARGO’s developmental approach allows easy integration of new technologies into our products, so that they remain the highest quality and most advanced systems available. FARGO invests significant resources in product development -- over eight percent of net sales in 2000. FARGO now holds 13 United States patents, and has 50 United States patent applications pending.
We have manufactured and sold more than 50,000 card personalization systems in the past seven years. In 2000, FARGO had revenues of $59.1 million, and had 200 associates based at its 70,000 square foot corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Emerging technologies, such as smart cards and biometrics, will provide FARGO with new opportunities. We involve our independent integrators in determining the needs of end-users and evaluating our systems, to better assure market acceptance of new products.